all fall down
by theformulaofpudding
Summary: he was going to protect her, because his brother hadn't died for her to die too.


Lyon loved the rain. It was usually cleansing and calming, allowing nature to be wiped clean, leaving behind a gentle, fresh scent that he found relaxing.

Lyon hated torrential downpours. They usually flooded his garden, made travel impossible, and just generally made things more difficult.

"Gray!" Juvia wailed as the storm clouds rolled overhead, and he could feel the air temperature dropping. Her body racked with sobs, collapsing with horror next to the bloody mess that was his little brother. Lyon refused to deny it anymore; he loved the other mage as such, and would no longer say that they were just pupils under Ul anymore. The downpour hit, and he mentally winced at the deep sting the fat drops caused on his bare skin.

"Gray... No, no, this is my fault..." She careened, and Lyon was so close to breaking. Not that he let it show, of course. His little brother, the one girl who he couldn't lose, seeing them hurt either physically or psychologically like that hurt him. He was supposed to protect them, dammit, being the better ice mage! Why the hell hadn't _he_ tried to protect _them_?

"Lyon! Those things are still firing!" Meredy yelled, bringing him from his loathing. Oh, right. They were still on a battlefield. Seeing as he couldn't let Gray's life go to waste for the girl, who was sobbing on the ground next to the younger ice mage, he decided to remove the mater mage and Meredy, who he didn't know very well, from the battlefield. At least for now. Juvia would be in no condition to fight, and neither would he as soon as it really hit home that he was gone. Just like the first time.

Swiftly, he rushed to where Juvia was, wincing as one of the shots cut through his arm. He threw her over his shoulder delicately and grabbed Meredy's hand as he plowed through the shots, not allowing any of the shots to injure him, Meredy, or his precious water queen.

"Lyon! Put me down! Gray!" She wailed, alternating between pounding on his back and reaching backwards, towards Gray's body. He had to find somewhere safe. Then, he would let her hit him and scream and cry and he'd probably join her in the crying, even if it was bad for his bad-boy attitude. But that always slipped when the water mage was around. And... Lyon realized she was talking in first person. "It's all my fault! Let me die with him!"

He had to set her straight on that. The statement made him angry, because hadn't she learned already? Hadn't she learned that you live for your friends? That was what Fairy Tail was about! He sat in an alcove made by debris and pulled her into his lap, holding her tear-stained face between both palms. "Juvia. He died for you, to protect you. He wanted you to live. You can't throw that present away. He'd try to kill me if he knew I let that happen." He was oblivious to Meredy, oblivious to the screams of terror, oblivious to everything but the water mage, whose blood- and tear-stained face crumpled as she buried her face into his neck, sobbing loudly. He stroked her back comfortingly, rubbing circle and playing with the ends of her sapphire hair.

"I... I never wanted this to happen," she stammered after a few minutes. "I wanted him to notice me... Not die-" she choked on the word, "for me." She removed her face from his neck, looking up to face him. "You're... You're crying too." She said quietly, taking the liberty of wiping his cheeks with her thumbs. "Don't cry, Lyon-sa - Lyon. The rain is Juvia's thing."

He saw that she'd noticed her person change, and that she tried to slip back into it. "It's raining over both of us right now. We can keep each other afloat, so we don't drown." He was worried about her slipping under, falling under the black waves of grief, so maybe if they stayed together, she would stay above them. He didn't want to lose his precious angel.

"That' a good idea," she agreed, before realizing her hands were still on his cheeks. "O-oh, sorry, Lyon-sa - Lyon." She stumbled over herself to move her hands, which he found incredibly cute.

"We'll be okay, Juvia. We'll survive." He tried to smile, but more tears came instead. "We'll have to live."


End file.
